sleepyDarwin, the big yellow lab/shepherd mix is the most enthusiastic of the bunch. He readily leaps (well, given his long legs, more like walks) on to the bed and rolls all over with me, eagerly pressing his head into my side to get scritches behind the ears.
Lucy, the sheltie, is a neurotic love sponge and will happily sit under any petting hand for as long as it continues to pet. Once you start this, she feels that you should not stop and will snuggle up and bump your hand with her head if you try. I usually don't start so she ends up laying down by my feet.
Brandy, my Australian shepherd/huskie mix, is too old and stiff to make the leap up on to the bed any more, sadly. She used to be a big fluffy dog-shaped zone of warmth on one side of the bed but was never really a big snuggler. These days she lays down by the side of the bed, still part of the pack, but not part of the big snuggle fest on the bed.
If I'm lucky, things in the house stay relatively quiet and the dogs settle down to sleep easily. Occasionally, something sets them off and they're out to the living room in a flash to protect the home territory from whatever has interloped. The best days are those like today where Ericka is off at some appointment or other and no big distractions set them off. Then we get in hours and hours of sleep, eventually morphing into strange angles of snuggle as I toss about getting comfy and the dogs shift position.
